reading - Truly Alive Magazine

Stress…How it Affects Our
Lives and Hormone Balance
By Tom White, RPh, PhC and Frank Latino, RPh, MS, PhC
Former Highland Pharmacy employees Pharmacists Tom White and Frank Latino strike out on their own
with “The Hormone & Anti-Aging Center of New Mexico”(HAAC) a compounding Pharmacy and Clinic.
all stressed out.” How many times have we heard
“I’m this expression in our lives? Has this become
such a common remark that we forget to really understand
what it means? More than likely, it is overstated, but maybe
not. I don’t think we understand how much stress we all have
in our lives. We have become very accustomed to daily stress
and in most cases have been forced to adapt to stress even
in the most extreme cases. STRESS HAS BECOME A WAY
OF LIFE.
In this article, I will discuss “stress” and how it
affects hormone balance; which consequentially
and dramatically affects our health and daily lives.
What is the definition of stress? In short, almost anything
and everything can produce stress. Even when we are
“not stressed” we can be stressed thinking about why we
are not stressed. Below are some of the common stressors
in our lives:
• Job and finances
• Illness, surgery
• Parenthood (Who wrote
the book?...I want a
refund)
• Hormone imbalance (age
related, stressed induced)
• Pollution (all types
including radiation
pollution)
• Alcohol
• Diet (sugar, high
carbohydrate foods)
• Emotional stress (divorce,
relationships, death of a
loved one)
• Physical stress (over
exercise)
• Poor life decisions
• School
• Hydration (fluid balance)
There are basically three types of stress: Acute stress;
stress that has a sudden onset and is quickly resolved.
Chronic stress; stress that may or may not have a sudden
onset, but lasts for a prolonged period of time (maybe our
whole lives). And oxidative stress; or metabolic stress. This
is stress at the cellular level which is generally chronic and
will without a doubt destroy our bodies if left unchecked.
Chronic stress causes the formation of free radicals such
as the, “reactive oxygen species” (ROS). These free radicals
are absolutely necessary to our health. They are used to kill
foreign bacteria, viruses and the like. But when unbridled,
they are indiscriminate killers. These very useful but very
destructive free radicals when left unchecked can kill healthy
cells. The body uses “antioxidants” such as: super oxide
dismutase (SOD), catalase, and glutathione at the cellular
16 Truly Alive | www.trulyalive.net
level to neutralize the ROS and other free radicals to keep
their destructive behavior in check. In short, anti-oxidant,
anti-oxidant, anti-oxidant becomes absolutely paramount
to good health. Chronic stress leads to oxidative stress and
anti-oxidants are the answer. Chronic stress also affects the
“telomeres”, which are the end caps of a strand of DNA.
Telomeres are constantly regenerated by “telomerase” and
chronic stress reduces this regeneration process. As a result,
the DNA, which contains the chromosomes (which has
the genetic sequencing code to reproduce a cell) becomes
damaged and the cell dies. This can lead to many cell deaths
and tissue necrosis, or death of tissue.
The body tries to control the inflammatory process of
stress by increasing the release of “cortisol” or “hydrocortisone”
produced by the adrenal glands. The adrenal glands
sit just above the kidneys and have a monumental job to
perform. They produce cortisol to control inflammation
and stress. They produce aldosterone, which regulates fluid
balance in the body. They produce adrenalin and nor-adrenalin
for our fight and flight mechanisms. Additionally, they
produce 40% of our sex steroid hormones, i.e. estrogen,
testosterone, DHEA, progesterone.
Fortunately and unfortunately we have a system in the
brain called the “Limbic System”. It is a primitive part of
the brain, which through the process of evolution hasn’t
changed much. It is a part of the brain which has allowed
“man” to survive. It always acts as a defense mechanism.
Through the release of adrenalin, cortisol and aldosterone,
man has been able to survive. In today’s world, we have
replaced primitive man’s survival dilemma with the stress
of everyday life of modern man. The limbic system of
survival does not make a distinction when it comes to
stress. Stress is Stress. Ancient or modern it is all the same.
Good and Bad. Not every stress in our modern day lives
involves a life or death situation as in primitive man. But
the body still responds to stress as a life or death situation.
Therein lays the problem. Modern man (in many ways
due to the Limbic System) is no different than primitive
man. Modern man has exchanged the extreme stress and
challenge of ancient man to survive with the chronic stress
of everyday life of today’s world to survive. This can lead to
hormone imbalance. Remember that the adrenals produce
40% of the sex steroid hormones in the body. That is on a
good day with minimal stress. When we become stressed,
sex steroid hormone production basically stops to increase
cortisol production to control stress. Primitive man’s life